Monthly Archives: February 2010

i didn’t have much sleep last night because zendra kept on bugging me about her pink jacket. she wanted to wear it so bad. she knows now that if i put her a jacket she’ll be going out. “tong batang ito, hilig gumala” (this little one is fond of going out), i uttered. she kept on crying and it’s almost 12 midnight. “isuot mo na nga lang, pag nainitan yan aalisin din nyan” (just put it on, if she feels hot she’ll remove that), my husband told me. so i put the jacket on and she was satisfied. she literally slept with her winter jacket. i tried two times to get rid of it before she sweats, but she still fights for it. the heater is now killing us inside the room. we can’t turn it on or off because it’s centralized. it just turns on at 6am, and off at 11pm automatically. almost all the buildings in Milan are centralized. too seldom you’ll find a house with an individual heating system. so we always leave the window a bit open for some air. i’m still watching a film starring Jennifer Lopez (Angel Eyes). almost 1am. nothing else to watch on wednesday night. friday is a better day, we got CSI and 11th hour on prime time tv. it’s only about 2am that i get to remove the jacket from zendra without waking her up. . then i sleep.

i decided to bring along zendra with me when i drop my son, Jaki in school. it’s a sunny thursday and not so cold. so i dressed her up..pretty in pink! it’s still early, so i turned on the dvd and let her watch first teletubbies. she learned the “ciao-ciao” (hello) thing from Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Lala and Po: the 4 teletubbies character.

during my time, it’s just sesame street, flintstones and disney cartoons. still in black & white when i was at pre-school. (am i that old?) =)

i always set the dvd in italian language ‘coz the english is so very british, and i guess she’ll better be used also of italian language so she’ll never be silent when she goes to day care school. anyway, we talk tagalog at home. she understands both now.

Jaki on the other room is busy too with his tom and jerry cartoons. “mamma, ho dvd di questo, l’ho gia visto” (mamma, i have a dvd of this, i saw it already) and i kept wondering why kids will have to watch 50 times the cartoons and not getting annoyed. 🙂

almost 8:15am. time to get ready kids…

—

we went out and headed for school. we saw my mom waiting for the bus, so zendra cried. she wants to come to her grandma. so i turned the stroller quickly before she cried out loud. after we brought Jaki in school, zendra and i headed up to the park. no one is still around ’cause it’s early. she just roam around.

she’s now learning how to step at the stairs…awww…i have to be so careful and doubly patient with her…“ang kulit na”

out of the park, there’s a flea market along the street. every thursday, vendors flock the street and it’s always economical to buy there..fruits, clothes, etc. you can buy anything! “ukay-ukay”. i didn’t peek there, too many people and i didn’t bring any money with me. so if i saw something nice, i will just be disappointed. better not pass there.

we crossed the street to sit down by the fountain nearby.

she kept on pointing at the waters and wanted to play around. “gustong maglangoy”(wants to swim) hahaha.

the fountain is just right in front of Sta. Lucia church (in the background left side). a lot of benches surround the fountain. most of time the elders sit there, chatting and reading newspapers.

i didn’t grow up with many dolls when i was small. as far as i can recall i have this small doll that had one trick: closing and opening her eyes, but at least it’s a doll which i can dress up. my mom used to make dresses for my doll and i enjoyed playing it. barbie doll isn’t existing i guess those times. but if it does exist, we can’t simply afford it.

since high school i’ve been dreaming about my future baby/babies. i always wanted to have a baby girl. i would dress her up like a princess, i thought. a living doll! after my two boys, i never thought God will still give me a daughter. my 2nd son is almost 7 years old and my possibility is 50-50. i’m 38! unexpectedly and surprisingly, a baby girl came! wow! the doctors might want to dish me up everytime i have my ultrasound because i always ask them if it’s really a “girl”. i’m so excited.

i named her Zendra Kiara. now she’s almost 15 months and eversince she was born, i was dressing her up morning, noon and evening. not to mention capturing all her moments…”click, click, click”…“yan na yata ang batang merong pinakamaraming picture sa mundo” (i guess she’s got the most numbered of pictures in the world), my hub joked.

(sforzesco castle)

(quarto oggiaro park)

(dressed for carnival festival)

(with her anne geddes doll)

(near our balcony)

(knocking at rooms)

(@ nonna esther’s house)

(going out)

(first time she walked)

(tambourine girl)

someday, she’ll gonna thank me for these pictures, like i thanked my mom.

it’s Carnevale Festival once again here in Milan. last year it’s so rainy, so we didn’t have the chance to watch the parade or enjoy the feast. it’s almost 3pm and my son’s counting the hours since morning. he’s not much excited for the parade, but more on the thought that we will go to luna park after we strolled around piazza Duomo, where the parade ends and a carnevale program was set near the Duomo church.

from piazza Cairoli where we landed, we just need to walk to reach piazza Duomo. i had fun glancing at the many kids in different costumes. even the babies (who would never know what the hell is going on around them) are in their cute costumes. my son didn’t wear his. “non vuole mamma” (don’t want mamma). so he’s just dressed as he is. my daughter though is “into” her flower fairy thing all day.

coming across piazza Cordusio…a long passage full of air from under, kids are enjoying throwing away “coriandoli” (confettis). mom bought one bag of coriandoli for Jaki. 1 euro for a small plastic, 2euro for bigger one. so it means you’re actually flying away your 1 euro on the air for each small bag. anyway, kids didn’t mind how much that costs, but how much joy they will get when they see the confettis flying over the blast of air.

heading up in piazza Duomo, it was so crowded. i mean, it’s like sardines, only in giant can. i even don’t have chance to shoot that big temperature machine exhibited on our way. too many people around.

pics and pics…my hub is then craving. we just meet him at piazza cairoli when he finished his wok, so it almost 4:30pm and time for snack at least. i want to eat “frittelli” (practically, tastes like doughnut, but it’s flat and so crunchy). but looking at the line for fritelli, i guess when it’s my turn, it will be dinner already. so we scouted at McDonald’s..oh ow, so full. Spizzico..for pizza, full too. last resort, “ciambella” (doughnut)! that will do. i love doughs.

we headed back to Castello Sforzesco (castle) ‘coz the luna park is just inside. but, we ate first and sit near the fountain outside the castle.

walking to the castle, i saw that giant statute of madame butterfly. still, people crowded so i just have a quick (uncentered) shot of Jaki before i loose my balance just to click the cam. i don’t know who’s pushing who.

there it was, the luna park. Jaki never miss this thing. don’t know what it’s called. every ride is called “giostra”. mom treat him with 4 tickets. the 4th one Jaki got another free ride when he reached the pompom thing. he never complained of his dizziness anyway.

it’s almost 6:30pm, my brother Jun and my husband enjoyed the horse race. they didn’t win. me and my son tried one game. he’s the last one, i’m the second to the last. poor us. it’s hard to shoot the ball to keep the horses running.

anyway, Jaki consolate himself by jumping and hopping on the big trampaulin.

i never dare myself ride that “tappetto volante”(flying carpet) thing…

we also tried the rouletee. my brother won a dog figurine. of course my daughter Zendra robbed that. she likes dogs. my son won an Inter FC (italian soccer team) scarf and he’s so happy about it. an Inter fan (like my hub and the rest of the household). I’m for Juventus though.

we waited for 20 minutes (what the…?) for the bus. when the bus arrived it was so loaded.

even an ant would deny a passage, hahaha. so we decided to wait for another one. after 3 minutes, an empty bus arrrived. lucky us! we were sitted like kings and queens.

we arrived at about 8pm. after dinner, i scouted over the decathlon bag that my hub bought for me, zendra and jaki: sporty stuffs.

It’s time for Carnevale! This morning, we all three had fun fitting costumes and dyaraaaaaaan!

presenting Jaki… batboy!

Zendra’s costume, courtesy of my cousin Madel. i just added up the wings, to look like she’s the fairiest flower fairy. =)

who’s that wearing a mask? hahaha. it’s their mamma…improvising a “star queen” effect. the mask is hand-made by my son Jaki from school. then, i rolled over my kid’s sheets full of smiley stars, makin’ it some sort of a gown. put a belt and necklace and dyaraaaaaan! 🙂

Zendra escaping out of the house…

she’s not scared of the mask..hence, curiousity wants her to squeeze my nose

it’s my daughter Zendra’s vaccination for morbillo-rosolia (german measles) and we got the 2pm appointment. as usual, we always arrive early prior to the said time. we got out of the house at about 1:40 pm. the consultorio pediatrico (kids’ clinic) is just two blocks away from our home, so it would only take 5 minutes for us to walk.

my son Jaki is on vacation so he’s with us too. Zendra has no idea she’ll encounter a needle again. she was excited to go out. once she’s dressed up, she will be standing near the door and tries to open it. only she’s still so small to reach the door handle.

when we arrived the doctors are still eating their lunch on the other room and asked me “che l’ora il tuo appuntamento”? (what’s your appointment time). i said, we’re early for the 2pm, so we’ll just stay at the waiting room.

Zendra saw lots of toys and get so excited. maybe if she knew she’ll have her vaccine, she wouldn’t even bother to play around. 🙂

Jaki joined her little sister and i just had fun capturing them at my cp. little blurry though. never mind.

almost 1:55pm. Zendra is nearing to her challenge of bravery…

the doctor’s calling us. ready Zendra?

heading to the doctor’s room, my daughter saw many pictures of babies and right away she keeps on shouting “Ba-Ba…Ba-ba” means baby. so the two women doctors giggled at her. called her “monellina” (little girl). the doctor asked me to put Zendra on the examination bed and checked her up: heartbeat, ears, eyes, and mouth. all is well. weighing and measuring is not their assignment. they have another schedule for it. Mondays and Fridays @ 10-11am.

i was about to get rid of my daughter’s stockings, when the doctor said, “no, lascia cosi” (no, leave it that way). the vaccine will be on her left arm, not in her legs anymore. oh, i see. she just asked me to hold Zendra’s feet, while the other doctor hold her other arms, so the other one could administer the vaccine. Zendra cried, not because of the needle she saw, but the way we imprisoned her. poor baby…she might be thinking, “why the hell are you squeezing me?”

in a split of seconds, the injection is done. put a band-aid and voila! Zendra stop crying. if i have a stop watch, i could measure her soft cry at about 30 seconds. real brave…

we were asked to stay for about 20 minutes…at least to make sure everything’s fine after the vaccine. so my daughter played again in the waiting room, as if she was never been injected at all.

She’s braver than her “Kuya” (big brother) Jaki. everytime i bring Jaki for vaccine…starting from the very second we sat down at the waiting area, he was already in agony. too scared.

The sun started to shine when we got out of the clinic, so i decided to bring the kids to the nearby park.

Oh ow…the park was closed, with a sign: “Chiusa per manutenzione” (closed for maintenance). Jaki sighed and just drink at the tap fountain nearby for consolation. we just go home, minding each of our businesses: Jaki with his pokemon cards, Zendra with her teletubbies and me on the pc.